For Christmas, my wife bought me an APCO Magnifier Lamp. She said she didn’t like seeing me strain to see fine details as I held a mini a few inches from my face, so she took pity on me and got me this wonderful tool. Last night, I took it through its paces while doing edging and highlighting on Hammerhead #2. I will say that it slowed down my work a bit at first, because it took a bit of adjusting to get used to it. If you haven’t yet worked with one of these, here are a few things to keep in mind.

1. The light is very intense. The fluorescent tube on this lamp creates some very bright light, enough to light up an already-lit room. While this is great for being able to see details well, it can be a bit jarring at first. Even more jarring is the adjustment your eyes have to make when you turn it off; everything will seem very muted for a bit, and it can be hard to see the details you just painted in normal light. You will want to see them in normal light, because…
2. The light is very cool. I don’t mean cool as in “awesome”; I mean cool as in temperature. It’s a very blue-white light, which means it will change the nature of the colors you’re working with. I highly recommend mixing and testing your colors in natural/warmer lighting in order to get a sense of how they’ll really look on the mini before you whip out the magnifier lamp.
3. The light obliterates shadows. This may seem like it goes without saying, but I bring this up for two very important reasons. First, if you’re using natural shadows to figure out where to highlight, this light will make that very difficult; you’re best served doing that under natural light. Secondly, losing shadows means that you’ll lose one of those subtle visual indications of how far the brush is from the miniature. The intense light flattens everything somewhat, so you have to retrain your eye to look for the new, lighter shadows that the lamp creates. Once you’ve figured it out, you should be good to go.
4. The magnifier will wobble a bit. The lamp is mounted on a spring-tensioned swing arm mounted on a pivot point that clamps to your table or desk. You can tighten down the joints on the arm to lock it in place, but not the pivot point. Because of this, you will get a little residual side-to-side movement right after you get the magnifier situated, or if you bump it slightly while working. You can steady it again with your hand, but be prepared for a little wobbling, which, combined with the natural fish-eye effect of the lens itself, can be a bit disorienting.
5. The magnifier has a sweet spot. Thanks to the fish-eye effect, you can’t just put the magnifier generally over your work area and get good use out of it. You’ll have to experiment with the magnifier and figure out the right distance between you, it, and your miniature to get clear magnification. I’ve discovered that you can either work with the magnifier right in front of your face, or at about half an arm’s length away, and that seems to work well. The mini itself will have to be relatively close to the lens, so keep that in mind when using your brush; you’ll have to hold it at an angle, rather than pointed directly at the mini.
6. The magnifier will highlight every detail and imperfection. This isn’t so much a working concern as it is just something you’ll notice. You will see every uneven line and every incomplete brush stroke. You will see every minor flaw in the mini, in the priming, and in the painting. Details that look fantastic at arm’s length or on the tabletop may look crude and clumsy up close. Don’t let that discourage you. No one is going to be looking at the mini as close as you are at that moment, and once it’s out from under the lens it’ll look fine again.

Keep these six things in mind, and you can benefit greatly from a magnifier lamp. It will encourage you to sharpen up your detail work and to try finer details than you’ve tried before, because now you’ll actually be able to work on that small a scale. If you want to step up your mini painting game, I highly recommend one of these.

I love lamp.

• cleaned up flash and mold lines
• filed holes larger or pegs smaller to provide a better fit (particularly useful with plastic flight bases, which never seem to be sized properly)
• scored/roughened metal surfaces to help glue adhere better
• filing off old, stubborn super glue from older minatures
• added grooves and depressions to a bit to make it join with a different part

Of course, a good tool requires good care. Fortunately, these are relatively easy to take care of. I keep them in their plastic sheath when not in use, and after using them I run them lightly between my thumb and forefinger to clean off any material hiding in the filing surface. By keeping them clean and dry, you can greatly extend the life of your files.

There are also sets of larger files available, but for miniature work I prefer the smaller, more delicate micro files. They’re a good set of precision tools, and not badly priced for the amount of work you’ll get out of them.

That’s when I remembered a tool that I’d purchased for another set of miniatures, but had never tried. A few years earlier, I’d been painting D&D miniatures for a friend, and I read about a technique for doing tattoos that involved using colored micron pens for fine detail work. I picked up a set of Zig Millennium 005 pens, and then promptly forgot all about them as no one with tattoos was needed. Fast forward to mid-2007, and I had a squad of Fire Warriors with a bunch of tiny gaps that needed precision detail. Taking a chance, I pulled out a base-coated Fire Warrior and went to work. I was very pleased with the results.

My first inked Fire Warrior

The work was quick, easy, and very precise. Better yet, the pens worked equally well for coloring the lines on everything from Gun Drones to Crisis Suits to Devilfishes. Since then, I’ve sworn by the pens, and I keep a full set around in my painting kit. I mostly use black, but I’m holding onto the other colors (blue, green, and red) just in case the opportunity for a tattoo or the like presents itself.

Some things to know about micron pens:

• There are a variety of nib sizes on the pens, ranging anywhere from 08 (0.65mm) to 005 (0.20mm). For miniature work, I recommend the 005; much larger than that, and the tip won’t fit in the small gaps between armor plates. For tanks like the Devilfish and Hammerhead, you might try an 01 (0.25mm) or even an 03 (0.35mm), but an 005 works just fine with an additional pass.
• The ink is archival quality, so it should not fade over time. It’s also waterproof, so it shouldn’t run if you use a wash on the figure.
• The ink remains wet for a brief time after applying, so if you go outside the lines (and it will happen), you can just rub off the excess with a paper towel, or even with your thumbtip.
• The best micron pens come out of Japan, but can usually be found at most hobby or art supply stores. I recommend the Zig Millennium and Sakura Pigma Micron sets of pens.

For achieving a clean, sharp look on your Tau models, or on any models with thin detail lines, give a micron pen a try. They’re fast, easy to use, and provide good results.